Closure for jars, bottles, and other receptacles



A. AND H. INGRAM. cL0suRE FoR JARsBoTTLEs, AND OTHER RECEPTACLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15. 1916- RENEWED JUNE 11, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT orme;

ALFRED INGRAM AND HARRY INGRAM, or BROOKLYN, New YORK, AssmNoRs fr@ INGRAMS INCORPORATED, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEWT YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

CLOSURE FOR JARS, BOTTLES, AND OTHER REGEPTACLES.

Patented Jan. 18, 192i.n

Application led November 15, 1916, Serial No. 131,388. Renewed .Tune 11, 1920. Serial No. 388,346.

To all whom it may concern:

:Be it known that We, ALFRED INGRAM and HARRY INGRAM, citizens of the United States, and residents of Brooklyn, in the county or Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Closures for J ars, Bottles, and other Receptacles, of which the following is a specification. I

The invention pertains more particularly to closures of cap character formed of fienible material, as Celluloid, for example, having a depending flange or skirt portion to closely engage the side walls of a receptacle, and the purposeo the invention is to insure the proper application of the closure to the receptacle. Considerable diiliculty has heretofore been encountered in the use oi iieXible closures or caps of the class here involved by reason of the fact that on the ap plication of the cap to the receptacle the air contained Within the cap has become trapped and more or less compressed therein, with the result that the air has effected the lifting of the cap from the receptacle.

Our invention provides a novel method of so applying the cap to the receptacle that the air which would otherwise become en.- trapped therein may escape, without the cap itself being permanently vented. We find that it is ver desirable to make the cap or closure of thin sheet pyroXylin material or the like, as Celluloid, and to provide thereon a depending skirt portion which will very closely engage the sides of the receptacle to whichthe cap or closure may be applied, and we have found that a cap or closure thus constructed necessarily, under usual conditions, entraps a considerable quantity of air within it when applied to a receptacle, and to eliminate this objectionable condition and thereby insure the proper retention of the cap or closure on the receptacle, is the purpose/of our invention, which we carry out by extending a string or cord over the top of one side of the receptacle prior to or on applying the cap thereto, and after the cap has been applied, withdrawing said string or cord from betweenthe'cap and receptacle. The presence of the string or cord between the cap and receptacle creates a temporary vent throu h which the air which would otherwise become entrapped may escape, and upon the final withdrawal of the string or cord from between the cap and receptacle, the said vent becomes closed by the natural tendency o f the skirt oi'f the cap or closure to resume its normal shape and engage the side of the receptacle, the result being that the cap or closure when once applied in the manner described, remains in position and the receptacle continues to be properly closed and substantially air tight. The cap and string or cord may be independently applied, the string or cord being placed across the upper edge oi' one side ol the receptacle and allowed to extend down the outer side thereof and the cap then applied thereupon, or, as we prefer, the string or cord may be threaded through the skirt of the cap or closure so as to be carried thereby and the string or cord and cap together applied to the receptacle, said string or cord, after the application of the cap or closure to the receptacle, being Withdrawn so as to leave the receptacle properly closed;

The invention will be fully understood ing shown as having been applied to positionv and the'string or cord as still upon the receptacle;

Fig. 3 is a side. elevation, partly in section, of the receptacle and cap, the cap being in section and its final condition and position, the string Withdrawn;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the cap or .clpsure embodying our ,inventionv Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section through a portion of the receptacle and cap on the dotted line 5 of Fig. 2;

or cord having beenn Fig. 6 is a corresponding View on the dotted line 6 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 7 is a vertical section through aportion of a receptacle and cap illustrating a modified 'method of employing our invention, 'the string or cord in this instance not being'directly carried by the cap but sepa,-

, lower p the the skirt 14 outwardly,

rately extended over one edge of the receptacle prior to the application of the cap thereto.

In the drawings, referring to Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, 1() indicates a known form of receptacle, in this instance, a tumbler, for illustration, 11 the contents thereof, and 12 the cap or closure for said receptacle, said cap or closure being of thin flexible material, preferably of pyroxylin nature, and comprising a top 13 and depending annular skirt portion 14, which is intended to closely cling against the sides of the receptacle 10. In the construction presented. in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, we equip the cap or closure with a string or cord 15 and connect the` same with the cap or closure by perforating the portion of the skirt 14 and extending the string therethrough, a part ofthe string being exposed at the outer side of the cap or closure and a sufficient portion thereofbeing within the cap or closure to extend across one side of the upperedge of the receptacle 10 upon the application of the cap or closure to said receptacle, as shown in Fig. 2. Thestring or cord 15 by closely fitting the perforation in the skirt of `the ca will retain its position so that the article to be handled and sold will be self-contained, the cap then carrying and holding the string or cord 'ready for use when the cap or closure is applied to a receptacle. The cap or closure is, as aforesaid, of flexible material, and when applied to the receptacle 10 a portion of the string or cord 15 extends from perforation 16 in the skirt 14 up along the side Vof the receptacle and over the upper edge of the same; that portion of the string or cord at the inner side of the cap serves, when the cap is placed on a receptacle, to force the adjacent side portions of as at 17 (Fig. 5), and also prevents the top of the cap from fully seating on the upper edge of the receptacle, thereby leaving along the string or cord a vent .or air channel out through which the contained air may escape from within the cap during the application of the same to the receptacle, instead of the air being trapped within the cap. The air within the cap is forcibly discharged around the stringA or cord 15 while the cap is being pressed downwardly upon the receptacle and finally when the cap has become rmly seated, thevstring or cord 15 will be pulled outwardlyv ffrom the cap and receptacle.

after which, preferably, the cap will be given a iinal downward pressure so that that portion'of its top which washeld upwardly by the thickness of the string or cord crossing the edge of the receptacle,"may pass into rmengagement with the receptacle.

In Fig. 7 the tumbler or receptacle is numbered 20, its contents..21, and its cap 22,

said cap comprising, the same as the cap incassa shown in Fig. 1, a top portion 23 and an annular depending skirt portion 24: to closely iit upon the sides of the receptacle 20. In Fig. 7 we illustrate the string or cord, numbered 25 therein, as extending from within the receptacle over the upper edge thereof and down between the skirt or flange 21 and the side o'i the receptacle, and Said string or cord 25 is used for the saine purpose and performs the same duty as the string or cord 15 shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4- and 5 inclusive. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the string or cord 15 is carried by the cap l2 as a part of a complete commercial apparatuswhereas in the construction shown in Fig. 7 the string or cord 25 is not carried by the cap but is placed by the user of the receptacle and cap across the upper edge of the receptacle prior to the application of the cap thereto, and upon the cap having been applied to the receptacle the string or cord 25 is drawn out from between the cap and receptacle in the saine manner that the string or cord 15 is withdrawn from the receptacle shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The string or cord 25 creates a vent for the air which would otherwise bc A-entrapped within the cap 22. IVe prefer the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 since with such construction the string or cord 15 is carried by the cap and therefore always present for immediate use, whereas with the employment of the invention 11i the manner yindicated in Figui', the string or cord 25 is separate from the cap and liable to become` misplaced.

Our invention involves ap aratus, to-wit, the cap having a thin fiexib e resilient depending skirt portion, string or cord and receptacle, and also a new method for pr e venting air from becoming trapped within the caps of the character involved herein when the same are applied to receptacles with which they passrinto close engagement. The invention remedies an objection which has long existed, in connection .with the application of light-weight exible caps to jars and the like.

IVe employ the word string or cord in the foregoing' specification in a generic sense, and said string or cord may be of any suitable character and of any suitable material and diameter, the only essential features being that it shall be suiiiciently flexible to snugly fold over the edge of the receptacle and extend down between the skirt of the cap and the side of the receptacle and that it be capable of being .withdrawn from the receptacle without destroying the cap.

VThe cap or' closure is vpreferably of the slip-cover type and preferably formed from thin sheet pyroxylin material or equivalent substance.

Our invention also possesses the advantage of permitting the formation of a partial vacuum within the receptacle sufficient to quite firmly hold the cap 1n place, and in this use of the invention the cap and string will be applied to the receptacle, and by means of the thumb or hand the middle portion of the cap will be depressed or dished inwardly to discharge through the vent a part of the air that ma be still within the top of the receptacle, a ter which the string or cord will be withdrawn to permit the sealin of the vent.

, hat we Vclaim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. A receptacle having plain exterior surfaces about its mouth, a cap of flexible material closely applied thereto and havin aA top to engage the lip of the receptacle an a depending skirt portion to pass downwardly over the sides of the receptacle and which isl also exible and resilient, and has a transverse hole in it, and a fieXible string threaded through said hole so as to become detachably connected with and carried by the cap and which string`on the application of the cap becomes interposed between the lip and side of the receptacle and said cap and adapted at the location of the string to prevent the top ofthe cap from sealing on said lip and to flex said skirt outwardly, thereby creating a temporary vent, said string to be finally withdrawn and said skirt on the withdrawal of said string being adapted to automatically regain its initial condition, for completing the sealing of the receptacle.

2. The method hereinbefore described of avoiding the entrapment of air at the top of a substantially filled receptacle bythe application of a closure to said receptacle, which consists in providing a close tting flexible slip-cap, interposing a string between the 11p and side of the receptacle and said cap when the cap is being applied to position, compressing the cap downwardly upon said receptacle and string, and thereafter dishing the top of said cap downwardly and withdrawing said string so as to permit the skirt portion of the cap to regain its initial shape and cling to the receptacle and also so as to positively effect the discharge of the air entrapped in the top of the receptacle and assure the sealing of the cap on the receptacle. l Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 13th day of November A. D. 1916. t

ALFRED INGRAM. HARRY INGRAM. Witnesses:

ARTHUR MARION, CHAS. C. GILL. 

